Animations

[Chaos Awakes]

I've just started playing with animations and have frustrated myself

I've created an animated Vi Potion like in Dungeon Master II, where the potion fizzes in your hand. Now, in the editor, for some reason I'm not allowed to change the in-hand icon associated with a Vi Potion so I have to create a clone of it and add the animation to that. I then replace all the Vi potions scattered around my dungeon with the new clone version.

However, problem time. When the player casts a Vi spell, it still creates the old static unanimated Vi potion in his hand! So how do I change the spellcasting so that a Vi spell creates the new animated clone potion, or better still, how do I change the graphic associated with the original Vi potion?

[Gambit37]

It's been a while since I made animations, but I think you do it this way:

Add all the new bitmaps for the animation
Create the new animation
Replace the images for the Vi potion with the animation

I'm not sure you can do this all directly in the editor, you may need to do it using a text editor.

[Chaos Awakes]

As I said, the editor doesn't allow me to change the icon of the Vi potion - I have to create a clone.

So I need to know how to change the icon graphic for a Vi potion in the text file using a text editor. I've been trying for a couple of months now to download the "definitive guide to RTC editing" from the first post in the sticky topic in this forum, but despite being assured several times on here that it would be reuploaded or emailed to me I still get "server not found".

[Gambit37]

Well, that guide wasn't really definitive anyway, it was never completed.

Have a look at the sample George prepared in the modules\examples folder called animation.txt. Although it creates a new object by cloning an old one, you shouldn't need to do that bit. Just use the REPLACE command for the Vi potion's icon bitmaps instead of ADD, and replace them with the animation. That should work.

[Chaos Awakes]

Cool, I'll do that this afternoon.
I would still really like to get some sort of guide to editing though - there must be one surely, somewhere? I'm endlessly finding things that I can't do in the editor and the answer on here from people is always "Oh, just edit the text file."

So the obvious question is, if everyone here seems to know how to edit the text file to do all sorts of things, who told them all? Which guide did they read?

[beowuuf]

There is, you just need to hang on until Andy can come bacl and get it back up properly...real life is annoying when it gets in the way of DM

And we read no guide, we looked at the text files of the original games, and the examples, and have been told along the way by george some of the new commands. Hopefully when you can see it the guide is available...I'll try to dig around and see if I can find where I put the one I downloaded (think it was the newest one) and then see if I have enough free space to host it

[beowuuf]

http://www.dmjump.net/rtceditingguide2.doc

[Chaos Awakes]

Cheers mate

I've just downloaded it and will be having a look when I get back from my jog this afternoon, I expect I'll need a sit down...

[Chaos Awakes]

OK, It would appear that what I want can't be done even though it is something which is supposed to be supported by the engine (IE: adding animations to items). I consider this an oversight in design as it essentially makes it impossible to add animations to certain objects and make them usable.

In the text file, the only way to replace the pre-existing graphic for a VI potion is by using the REPLACE command in the "bitmaps - new" section of the file. However, REPLACE only supports the parameter FILE= which means that I can only replace it with a single frame bitmap. To replace it with an animation which I had created, I would need to either be able to specify all the frames of the animation in the REPLACE command like this:

REPLACE ICON_POTION_VI FILE=(FRAME1.BMP , FRAME2.BMP)

or use an ID for the animation I have created later in the file like this:

REPLACE ICON_POTION_VI ID=(ANIM_POTION_VI)

Since I can do neither of these things, it would appear that I cannot replace the bitmap for a VI potion (in hand) with an animation. The only way to do it is to create a clone of a VI potion and add the animation to that - but I can't do this because casting a VI spell with a flask in hand would create the old unanimated VI potion.

Please help!

[beowuuf]

Either there is a command syntax like this, and George simply hasn't said what it is yet, or you can't alter existing items like this - either way soudns like one for George

[Gambit37]

I just had a look in the editor and it seems straightforward to me:

1) Select Resources -> Add/replace Bitmaps
2) Find and select the bitmap ICON_FLASK_POTION_VI
3) Click the button on the right "Replace current selection with -> Animation"
4) Load the bitmaps for your animation in the next dialogue (you obviously need to have loaded the bitmaps into the editor prior to this).

Although I haven't tried it, that should do what you want.

[Chaos Awakes]

Thanks Gambit, works like a charm.

I assume I didn't spot it before because the Add Animation button was greyed out - presumably because I already had a new graphic attached.